Filippo Pozzato (Katusha) at the start of stage five in Le Cap d'Agde. (Image credit: sirott)
Filippo Pozzato and Team Katusha need to respect the design of the national champion jersey, said the Italian cycling federation (FCI) today in a press statement.
"It is not the same design we gave to him at the championships in Imola. The jersey he is using does not conform to the tricolore design," a representative of the FCI told Cyclingnews.
Pozzato won the Italian championships on June 28 ahead of Damiano Cunego. He is entitled the wear the prestigious national - green, white and red - jersey for one year.
He is racing at the Tour de France, July 4 to 26, where the champion's jersey is visible to millions of fans. The federation is upset with the design Katusha has used. The design adapts the Italian colours to the sponsor's logo and results in very little green.
"We just used the same layout and changed the colours. We did that with the Austrian and Russian champions' jerseys as well," Katusha's press spokesman, Andrea Agostoni, told Cyclingnews.
Agostoni explained the team will change the jersey in the coming days. They are waiting for a new jersey to arrive from their supplier, Santini, in Italy.
Riders wear different variations of the national champion jersey from year to year. Agostoni noted that no one forced Alejandro Valverde to change his Spanish Champion jersey last year. It had more black than the nation's red and yellow traditional design.
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